


Earth Arc

by ToraRyusei



Series: Five Elements [1]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 13:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19791946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToraRyusei/pseuds/ToraRyusei





	1. Takii Migakaze Must Die

Midnight in a town of this size usually meant tranquil streets and dark shops. The nightlife here was practically nonexistent, at the very least for ordinary humans. In this desolate business district, there was a restaurant that defied the dark and quiet night. A small flight of stairs led down to the narrow space occupied by a restaurant. From the windowed entrance one could see an open kitchen much like a bar on the left side, with small chairs and tables wedged in on the right side of the rectangular restaurant.

Inside, an elderly man with fading grey hair and a rather athletic build for his age stood over an open fire, sautéing the contents of a wok with quick flicks of his wrist that sent the ingredients up into the air in an arc where they would neatly find themselves back inside the large, sizzling pan.

There was only one customer tonight, a woman who looked as if she had been swept off by a hurricane. The crooked glasses enlarged her fatigued eyes, and while her clothes had at one point been quite fashionable, stains and marks of questionable origin had ruined the once expensive ensemble. She tried to hide her irritation as she sat in silence, waiting for the cook to speak.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you, it would be better if you asked a professional.” He at last spoke up, resuming the conversation as if his lengthy pause had never taken place. His hands stopped working, shutting off the flame and allowing the food inside the wok to simmer.

“I’ve already hired every killer that would come to this town, none of them could so much as scratch him.” Assassin. That was this man’s true profession. The kindly old face and humble restaurant were nothing but a façade. Unlike the others she’d contacted for this job, he didn’t do it for money. He, Shinsuke, chose to be an assassin because it was his calling.

For Shinsuke, murder was an art form. Death served as the core of his philosophy, and his ‘teachings’. A murderer who had been cast out from the temple he was raised in out of fear of his violent nature, yet he never understood why his masters were so afraid of death. So he set out to reform the world, and share with it his ideals.

In the fifty years since his exile from the temple he’d amassed a great number of disciples, taking children from the streets to teach them his unique martial arts, one bred especially for killing. In return for eliminating those Shinsuke regarded as ‘undesirables’ he rewarded with food and shelter. From politicians to simple thugs, Shinsuke’s targets are picked randomly, seen as mere stepping stones for the development of his students. The power to kill others so frivolously is what makes even the largest criminal organizations wary of him.

Shinsuke took his time to respond, now filling several deep bowls with a bed of rice and the stir-fried meat and vegetables from the wok.

“Is he powerful, this Mr.Migakaze?”

“He is a monster.”

“Hooh.” It was the first time in the entire conversation that Shinsuke had expressed any sort of interest. A bite, she thought.

“I’ll double the amount I offered before.”

“As I said, I’m not a professional, money is not my interest.” He shut down the offer without a second thought. After a pause, he spoke up.  
“Why do you want him dead?”

  
“He destroyed my laboratory, and made off with my life’s work.” The Chimera, a human infused with the various genes of creatures like Takii Migakaze. He had stolen her after destroying the underground laboratory, along with a countless amount of valuable information that couldn’t be retrieved.  


“Ahh, so that’s it. You want revenge for everything he destroyed, and for all your comrades he killed.”

She furrowed her brow, “There weren’t any lives lost, just data.”

Shinsuke, who had been adding the finishing touches to the meals, stopped. His elderly frame shook from a dry laughter that gradually raised in volume. She watched in confusion as he wrung out every coarse guffaw that almost seemed to be mocking her.

“Not people, but papers!” His voice still trembled with the last traces of laughter.

“What sort of monster doesn’t take any lives?”

“Takii Migakaze holds himself to a strange moral code, he does everything in his power to keep people alive, even his enemies.”

There he was, the biggest fool of all. A monster who chose to shackle himself up with chains. Shinsuke couldn’t understand it, this Migakaze was a walking contradiction.

“You’ve made an interesting enemy, miss. Share with me all that you know about him, and I’ll see if I can do you a favor.”

“I’ll leave you the files I have on him.” The deal seemed to be almost sealed. She didn’t quite understand it, but the reasons that would lead him to accepting the job didn’t matter. So long as the job was done, and her revenge sated she’d be satisfied.

“Come back tomorrow and I’ll have made a decision.” Shinsuke replied as he was handed a rather hefty folder containing the information about his target. She nodded and left, she would ignore the itch at the back of her neck that told her something was off. After pursuing the man who destroyed her work for all these months she could excuse a slight hiccup or two.

“Come on, everyone, it’s time to eat. Your reward for a job well done.” From the shadows of the restaurant appeared six figures, young men and women whose youthful exuberance had been vacuumed from their bodies. Their dark, sunken eyes were that of killers, the similarity that bound them together. Shinsuke placed a bowl of food out for each of them on the kitchen’s counter.

Outside a dark blue sky hung over them, a pitch-black hole in the center of it all, a sliver of light enveloped around one half.


	2. Shinsuke

Shinsuke. On the outside he looks to be nothing more than an elderly man with wispy gray hair and a rather healthy build for his age, yet his past was far more than his kind face let on.

The son of unknown nomadic people, Shinsuke was adopted into a temple that resided in the high-altitude plateau regions of Asia. It was such a place where receiving a fostered child was not uncommon, and they welcomed the child who they would name Shinsuke as one of their own. There he was taught their philosophy, honing his mind, as well as his body.

Shinsuke was a prodigy, his mind absorbed knowledge just as quickly as his body grew stronger. For him everything was easy, he would know he was unique as he watched his peers fail to grasp things that it took him mere days to understand. Although he was never arrogant about his talent, rather he saw it his duty to help his students. Thus, he became a sort of leader of the new generation of monks. Though the teachings of the temple could only satisfy him for so long.

It was soon after that Shinsuke became an adult that the place he called home would find itself in turmoil. The harsh military government that ruled the surrounding lands came and declared the temple as part of their nation. They strode into their temple and demanded food and shelter, which the temple elders complied with.

Shinsuke was appalled, the soldiers had done everything shy of pointing their rifles at the monks, yet the elders simply allowed their disgraceful behavior to continue. The elders explained that though they may seem rude now, it would do no good to spark the ever-growing tension between the two groups. Soon they would come to understand their way of life, and leave the monks alone.

Months went by, and still the government’s soldiers continued their abuse of the monks and their temple. Shinsuke could finally stand no more, and attacked one of the soldiers. A short fight broke out in the stone halls of the temple, though the brevity of the conflict was to be expected when one side had firearms while the other had swords. The result, however, was most unexpected.

Shinsuke stood in the faint beams of light that shone through the cracks of the temple roof. His hands dripped crimson blood over the fallen bodies of three soldiers he had killed bare handed. He stared down at them and felt no pity for their souls, no remorse for his actions. It was justice. The soldiers soon discovered what had occurred and began to slaughter the monks. A terrible conflict broke out that forever desecrated the peaceful temple atop the plateau, killing several on both sides.

It lasted no less than a night, and what should have been a one-sided massacre became a struggle that ended with the soldiers being hunted down and killed. Shinsuke was among the survivors, and the leader of the monks who had decided to stain their hands with blood. Shinsuke took the blame for the incident personally, and despite there being several others who had defiled the temple’s teachings that all lives were sacred, he asked the remaining elders to be the only one to face exile.

The disgraced Shinsuke though saw nothing wrong with his actions. Something else entirely occupied his mind, he became fascinated with how easily he killed. There in the temple he was taught life was precious, and it was immoral and inhuman to kill another person. Yet he had done it with such ease, without realizing until later what he had done.

The temple and his teachers had given him all that they could, and now he was free to roam the world and develop his skills even further. That which was forbidden to him would become the basis for his new philosophy. One which valued death, and that granted those who learned his teachings with the power to kill, just as he did.

Shinsuke began by taking in children off the streets. He would fill their bellies in return for favors. Soon he began to teach them martial arts as well, as their loyalty and reliance on him as a source of sustenance grew. Then came their test. They were to kill some unsavory people that Shinsuke had found to be the scum of the Earth. He was delighted to find that every one of his students passed their test with flying colors. From then on his requests grew, working up their technique until they with the help of their master slaughtered the martial artists at the temple where Shinsuke had grown up.   


Several decades have passed since that incident. Shinsuke continues taking children from the street to teach his art whilst running a little restaurant tucked away in a certain Japanese town..


	3. Hyakunin Kumite: Zenpen

How he came to be in this situation, he began to look back on it. Takii had at last found the safehouse of the notorious gangster known as Yujin the Firebrand. A criminal for hire who was an expert in all things that burned.

People would go to him for all sorts of jobs, asking him to burn down their place of business to collect insurance, eliminating some thugs moving in on their turf with a little gas leak in their homes, it was all fair game so long as he got to see something burn.

After his last job where he took the lives of three yakuza and five civilians after burning down a small three-story apartment complex, he had hidden in a safehouse on the edge of town that his employer had provided for him until things settled down.

It was an apartment on the tenth floor of the building, completely innocuous, the corridors that led to the apartment’s front door were lit with motion sensing lights that only occasionally flickered on when someone passed beneath them. As a shoddy apartment building built by land sharks, what more could you expect?

Takii came to the front door of the apartment, having encountered not a single soul on his way up, not even a receptionist in the main hall. All signs pointed to an ambush, but he was never one to shy away from a surprise attack. He drew a breath and tried the doorknob, it was unlocked. He immediately tensed up.

He cautiously opened the door…

There in front of him sat his prey, Yujin. He was asleep in a leather chair turned towards the front door, a bizarre placement for a seat. Clearly Yujin had been expecting him…yet he had fallen asleep.

No, you idiot. What sort of criminal falls asleep when he knows someone’s coming for him? Takii berated himself. Before he knew it, he saw a second man, standing right behind Yujin.

“Welcome, Takii.” A hand slipped over Yujin's shoulder, thin, pruned fingers gripped the man's suit tightly. Takii nearly jumped back in surprise, how could he had missed this man’s presence when he’d entered the room?

The man let out a low, raspy laugh. His head was completely bald, save for a few whisps of grey hair just above his ears. His worn face looked surprisingly healthy for his age, and the hand which gripped Yujin was hard and callused, like Takii’s. The mark of a fighter.

“Hold on now, let’s not jump to conclusions before we have a chance to talk.” The man’s friendly voice was a foreign element in the apartment where the tension was heavy.

“You a friend of his?” Takii replied sharply­, his hands subtly shifted in anticipation of a fight.

“Oh, no. I had only met him a few minutes before, we barely had a chance to speak before I killed him. Not that I’d ever be friends with a lowlife like him.” He said without a change in his amicable expression.

Takii’s pupils constricted, shooting from the man to Yujin. He was…dead? Impossible, he could have sworn he had felt Yujin’s _aura_ when he’d entered. There weren’t even any wounds on him, not a single stain on his gaudy silver business suit. His eyes glowed a bright yellow as he went to check if he could sense Yujin’s life force.

None, the man wasn’t lying. But that wasn’t the most bizarre thing Takii felt. The man who had killed Yujin…

Had no aura.

Every living creature has some sort of aura that pours out of their body. It is a representation of their life force, proof that they’re alive. For most humans, auras didn’t exist, those who knew of it could barely manipulate it on the level of a Tiger, like Takii. To completely kill their aura shouldn’t be possible. Then why couldn’t he sense it?

“What’s with that frightening gaze? Is it so surprising I killed a wanted man?” The man broke Takii’s concentration.

“You’re dead.” Takii’s words came from disbelief, but they were the only answer he could come up with.

Again, he laughed. “Not at all, I’m alive, just like you.” He smiled, his thin lips stretching up the sides of his face. Takii only became more bewildered, for a human to know even more than him about the supernatural was unheard of.

“I’m Shinsuke, by the way. While I am an assassin, this one here isn’t who I’m after.” His fingers pattered up Yujin’s head, then tilted it down. From his lips escaped blood that trickled down his lifeless body, down onto his clothing.

“It’s you I’m here for.” Shinsuke’s friendly nature left him like a transient wind, replaced with a chilly gaze from his eyelids open like slits. Takii was used to reading people’s true emotions through their aura, he was never one to trust a face, yet without any aura to perceive, he was left even more confused by the man’s sudden turn.

“Relax, I’m not going to kill you. No, that would be a waste. I’ve been studying you see, about who you truly are, and that world full of creatures just like you that’s been hidden from average humans.”

His eyes smiled and he chuckled without dropping the frigid face, like a puppet’s mouth hanging open so a sound could escape its hollow insides.

“To me, you’re a project. A slab of marble I will chisel into a statue. I will get you to accept death. I will force you to become what you really are, and take a life.”

He released Yujin and began walking towards Takii.

“So, let’s not waste any more time and get right to it.” A snap of his fingers and immediately, Takii felt a sharp jab in the back of his neck, striking a thin vein that went from the brain down the spine, rendering him unconscious. How? Shinsuke was right in front of him. If it wasn’t him, then there must be more like him who can kill their presence. The pair of hands which grabbed his arms and kept him from falling confirmed this, the last thing he heard as the blurry figures that caught him…

“You have nothing to worry about, I’m a _very good teacher_.”


	4. Hyakunin Kumite: Kouhen

A concrete arena, two fighters, amidst a nest of eyes just outside the ring, watching anxiously for the first one to fall. Sweat dripped off the two locked in combat. Their limbs crossed, landing, deflecting blows. The pair moved at a speed that could not be equaled by an ordinary human, let alone be followed by the average bystander.

They broke off, bare feet sliding across the dry floor. For a second all was silent, the two looked at each other and took a bid to see what the other’s next move would be. It had only been a minute, but the two competitors looked as if they’d been at it for hours. Sweat trailed down their faces, their knuckles dark in coloration.

One kicked off the ground, the other followed suit so quick it was as if they had done so in unison. Both staked their gamble on one last punch, one connected, the other fell short by a hair. The fist landed with a resounding crack against ribcage bone, taking the man off his feet and across the room until colliding with the dirt floor just outside the arena. The onlookers were quick to move out of the way, and now stared at the greasy dark haired man that laid unconscious behind them.

The victor, a man with golden hair and eyes, took deep breaths to steady himself. His arms felt heavy, and his fists numb.

“Well done, Takii Migakaze.” Spoke the voice of an elderly man from the crowd of pugilists, the only one among them past their adolescence.

“That makes fifty. You’re halfway there.” He gave the Tiger a broad grin.

\--

Takii was brought back to consciousness with a hard punch to the jaw, a violent awakening to a not so pleasant dream. His blurry eyes tried to focus on the scene, as a hand reached for his face but couldn’t.

Clank, clank.

Cold steel on his wrists, chains bound his arms behind him. In front of him, a concrete room illuminating by a single dangling lightbulb. Over him stood a man, no older than him, with cold, despondent eyes. Those were the eyes of a killer.

How? How did he end up in this situation? The last thing he could remember was meeting Shinsuke in that apartment, then being knocked unconscious by….

That’s right, he was snuck up on by people without any aura. Ones just like Shinsuke. His mind felt clearer, and now he could ‘see’, the man in front of him lacked an aura as well.

“You’re with Shinsuke…aren’t you…” Takii spat out, feeling blood forming in his mouth. Several more throbbing pains came to him in waves, seems they’d tried several times to wake Takii up, and now he felt the bruises all over.

“Correct, although it would be more accurate to call him my disciple.” Came the voice of the elderly man with wispy grey hair as he emerged from the darkness on the other side of the room.

“Those who knocked you out were also students of mine. But of course, you could tell, with those ghastly eyes of yours.” He had the look on his face as when they first met, the twisted smile one would associate with a cartoon vulture.

“Like I care…Just what the hell do you got me here?” Takii struggled to his feet, but found he couldn’t stand up thanks to the binding on his wrists. Surely the chain was attached to the floor, and in his state Takii found it difficult to break free from the steel, a task that would usually be feasible for the Tiger.

“I told you before, didn’t I? I was hired to kill you.” He spoke of death in such a minor tone, that one could have sworn to have misheard the kindly old man talk of murdering someone.

“I won’t be doing so, though. Not right away. My contractor gave me a great deal of documents to look over. They weren’t exactly page turners, but I did manage to skim a bit of interesting info from them. Your family, your kind, can see ‘life’. Aura, you call it? It seems that this higher sensitivity to life has kept you from ever taking one.

Lunacy! That’s what I thought when I first read this. You with all your strength, you could easily kill a man without having to use both arms. It seems that you’ve made a grave misunderstanding, Takii Migakaze. You think of life and death as separate things, that taking a life would be considered a sin.” Shinsuke crouched down to Takii’s level, finding himself face to face with the chained Beast.

“You couldn’t be more wrong. Death is a part of life, and vice versa. We kill things that are no longer desirable. The old, the weak, that which has outlived its usefulness, all of it must disappear. I know, hypocritical of me to speak of killing the old when I’m already withered and grey, yes?” He smiled.

“So here’s what we’re going to do. You will be given a chance to escape this place with your life, in exchange, you must undergo my training. Training that will turn you into what you were always meant to be.” He stood back up away from Takii, the youth’s mouth had turned into an indignant scowl.

“Who the hell do you think you are… _Train me?_ ” Takii’s words came out like a low growl.

Have you ever heard of the Hyakunin Kumite? Part training, part challenge. One Challenger faces a hundred martial artists of the same level of strength as he. Two minutes per match, in that time there must be a clearly defined loser. If the challenger wins, he faces another opponent, until all one hundred have been bested.

Of course, you wouldn’t learn anything if you simply bested them, no, if you truly want to leave this place, you must _kill_ _them_.”

Takii spat at the notion, he shot a defiant gaze up at the man.

“You really think I’d do such a thing?”

“I’m certain of it. Sure, you might get past the first few rounds by rendering your opponent’s unconscious, but soon you’ll come to see the limitations of your restrained style of fighting. Once that happens, there will be no other choice than to let go, to become that which you are meant to be. Far more interesting than a simple lecture, don’t you think? Rest up now, in two hours we will begin the hundred-man spar.”

Without giving Takii another chance to object, Shinsuke turned to the wrought iron door at the other end of the room and left. The man who had been standing over Takii all this time followed behind him, but the look he shot Takii before exiting assured the Tiger that it would be best not to try and escape. Takii was sure of it, too.

He sat in the darkness, he couldn’t even feel the presence of anyone else, never before had he felt such a void of emptiness around him. It was proof that Shinsuke and his students weren’t to be underestimated, somehow that man had mastered the ability to shut off his Aura completely, and to teach it to others. The fact that he couldn’t measure their strength made him wonder if he really could win all one hundred fights without losing control.

Whenever Takii confronted a human, he had to take extreme caution not to cause them any mortal harm. Always pulling his punches, always avoiding their vitals, it was a surgical precision he had sharpened over countless bouts. Even then, he always had to throttle himself, his animal instinct screamed at him to go for the killing blow and end it in a second. It was exhausting, both mentally and physically, could he really hope to win against these opponents he knew nothing about, humans on a completely different level than any he’d faced before, without going all out?

No, he couldn’t doubt himself like that, this was just what Shinsuke wanted. He would never accept that twisted philosophy of his, this was just another madman whose logic needed to be corrected. Takii had already promised himself to only take the life of that single person, the Dragon who represented the ultimate evil.

…But even that was hypocrisy, wasn’t it? To believe that no human was evil, and yet cast judgement on that man. Really, his will was such a flimsy thing…

\--

Two hours had passed, and once more the door swung open. This time it was a pair of Shinsuke’s students, devoid of aura and with those sunken eyes of killers.

They released Takii, and took him to meet his fate. He didn’t make a struggle, less he would end up facing all one hundred of his opponents at once. The corridor outside of the room was surprisingly old, not a bunker like he expected, but more resembling the sturdy interiors of a temple. What he had assumed to be concrete was most likely stone.

At the end of a corridor, a dim light that illuminated molecules of dust in the air. By the gentleness of that light he could deduce that it was morning. They stood on a walkway that went around in a circle, various entrances to other corridors all along it. In the center, a flat, round arena. The walkway and the arena were separated by a trench around three meters in length, with two entrances on either sides with narrow paths connecting the arena and the walkway.

All around the arena were massive chains, with links as thick as an arm, which went up, all the way to the top. As he looked up, Takii noticed there were several more walkways, and the ceiling was a halo which allowed sunlight to stream through from its empty center. The arena must move through some sort of lever and pulley system, he thought, though he had no idea why.

“How do you like it, this temple?” Shinsuke appeared suddenly to the right of Takii. The man was like a phantom, the very thought he could so easily approach Takii without him knowing frustrated him.

“It used to be that of my master’s, before I killed them and their disciples. Now it belongs to me, though rarely do I find a reason to come by.” He noticed Takii’s gaze had been led to the chains all around the arena as he remained silent.

“This used to be an arena where the students would train. My previous masters believed in testing one’s will through endurance, the hundred-man spar, specifically. Although, where they believed this training could further develop one’s willpower, I see it to teach that inevitably, we all reach our limits, and sacrifices must be taken. In this case, it’s either your life, or your opponent’s. You will see to my way of thinking soon enough, you will see that death isn’t something to fear.

You will embrace your true nature.


	5. Hyakunin Kumite: Kesshou

Blood violently sprayed upon the stone arena, limbs like lead screamed at his brain with every movement they took. Takii battered his opponent with blows, lacking the artfulness and precision of before, now he simply wanted his foe to go down.

Whenever Takii believed to have landed a decisive blow on one of Shinsuke’s students, they got back up and resumed the fight. How many had he knocked unconscious? Eighty? Ninety? All he knew was that the crowd around the arena, the ones who anxiously awaited their opportunity to fight against the Tiger, had thinned out considerably.

Aaah, why was it so hard to focus? His body still had energy despite how lethargic his movements felt, but it was his mind that was truly exhausted. Throttling his strength, concentrating all his energy on delivering non-lethal blows to his opponents even when they came at him with the intent to kill, it was taxing on his mind.

I could get this over easier if I simply slit their throats or bashed their heads in, such thoughts seeped into the back of his head, the violent tendencies of his Beast side began to feel viable in his exhausted state.

No, that was what Shinsuke wanted. If he gave into that part of him, if he decided to take a human life, then it was all over. There would be no other path for him than that of a killer.

Even so, he had stopped pulling his punches. Though they weren’t directed at any vitals, even in his exhausted state he could easily kill these humans. Shinsuke’s students were tough, their bodies trained to be inflexible like iron yet slip through their opponent’s openings like a great river. They stubbornly resisted until their bodies couldn’t take anymore, even then they struggled in vain to stand. What was it that made them so desperate to continue fighting? Was it Shinsuke’s beliefs that drove them to such extents?

His exhausted mind could do no more, it distracted itself while his violent instincts took control of his actions. Takii’s brain suddenly snapped to attention, he felt his fist propelling itself forward to his opponent’s face, he could not pull back, this punch could very well kill the man.

Impact.

His foe fell, bloodied and wrecked face from the blow. Takii’s knuckles had been dyed crimson. He felt a fear overcome him, he had always been confident that he could tell a person was alive by their _aura_ , but these students of Shinsuke had no such thing…

The man didn’t move. Takii was declared the victor, and his vanquished foe was taken away by the remaining disciples who hadn’t been chosen to fight. Had Takii done it? His mind raced with all the concerns he had always held. This was an act he had done naturally, without even thinking about it. Killing was ingrained in his body, as he was a Migakaze, a Tiger. Those of his family had been warrior-kings since before recorded history, it was in his blood to be merciless to his foes.

“Relax, Takii-kun. He breathes. The question is, will you?”

The cold voice of the old man known as Shinsuke brought Takii back from the maddening turmoil he faced within.

The old man flexed, now like his disciples, baring his upper body. Even in his age, Shinsuke had not allowed himself to grow weak and brittle, muscles coursed with strength from decades of refinement. Whatever he may lack in vitality compared to Takii, he would more than make up for in experience. After all, Takii still couldn’t grasp how Shinsuke could erase his aura, his very presence. To exist almost as if he were a phantom among the living.

“Aa…This is what you wanted to teach me…You wanted me to go back to my roots.”

“It is a waste of your talent to behave with such a misguided moral code. Those of evil hearts cannot be redeemed. Their only salvation, death. Yet you fear to commit to your role as savior. You may have managed to survive against my pupils with such half-baked ideals, but unless you come at me seriously you will die.”

Shinsuke was to be his hundredth opponent. The final hurdle, if he could beat him then Takii would be free.

Takii sized him up. Shinsuke’s stance was enigmatic, just like his aura. The way his palms faced the ground and his arms were bent resembled snakes ready to lunge. The lanky figure of the man carried a tension much like Takii’s, an explosive energy which sprang forth at a moment’s notice. That, coupled with the fact he couldn’t so much as read his mood through his aura meant that this man could be trouble. A dangerous individual unlike any before.

“Let’s begin.” Without a further signal, Shinsuke attacked. His feet closed the gap between himself and Takii, his palms were like daggers which shot forth towards Takii’s neck and heart, wasting no time, giving Takii not a single chance to take a breath.

He couldn’t even feel a killing intent from the man, Takii’s exhausted arms moved laboriously to defend himself. His arms parried Shinsuke’s, narrowly avoiding what would be fatal blows. Takii couldn’t read him at all, he was like a machine tasked with taking his life, behaving as if killing Takii was no more significant than pruning the branches of a tree.

  
Shinsuke quickly figured out that even depleted of his stamina, Takii proved too difficult to kill outright. He still needed to be beat down, just a little further, until he couldn’t stand. A sweep of the legs and Takii was sent falling. Shinsuke followed with a chop aimed down at the falling Tiger, which Takii blocked with crossed arms. He rolled onto the floor and was swiftly kicked in the gut by Shinsuke and sent flying across the arena.

“Is that all? I’m disappointed! I expected you to _fight_!”

He walked leisurely towards the fallen Tiger who struggled to get back onto his feet, breathing ragged. Shinsuke was right, Takii had no hope unless he gave it his all. But could he really, against a human? He got to his feet…

Shinsuke was strong. Takii was hard pressed to believe he was human. It wasn’t physical strength that made him such a difficult enemy, but the resolve. His very way of thinking allowed him to reach heights Takii never even thought possible, to manipulate his aura to such an extent that he could erase himself completely, become unpredictable. Was it because he embraced death?

He was attacking again. Shinsuke’s fists cracked Takii’s ribs. A moment of rage, and Takii retaliated with a knee to the gut with all his strength, the man stumbled back.

“That’s it…fight for your life! Take mine if you must!” There was no hesitation in Shinsuke’s words. Shinsuke was willing to throw away his own life if it made Takii embrace his inner beast. Takii had never seen such abandon, he treated death so frivolously. Like it was…as if it was nothing but an extension of life.

The pair exchanged blows, Takii’s harsh breaths and desperate movements were signs he was slipping further. He was afraid. Of killing someone, of being killed. He avoided death to such an extent that it had become a foreign concept to him. Ever since Fang died, his partner, the living blade he wielded…

Trauma, a thorny vine tightly wrapped around his lungs, threatening to pierce it if he ever breathed too hard. He couldn’t beat him while wearing these emotional shackles, he would have to fight like Shinsuke…Embrace death, trust his instincts…give them just a bit more control, believe that they wouldn’t betray his wishes and kill Shinsuke.

His fists flowed now with an animal ferocity. They clashed, repeated. The two faltered from the other’s blow, trying to fall one another with all their might, both suicidal in their quest to bring the other down. Now Takii could at least fight on even terms, using his true strength. It was a small step in stabilizing his emotions, but now came the next hurdle, could he outlast Shinsuke?

The pair battered each other, the old master grinned wildly through the blood and sweat that danced off them. Each punch was like a tempest, cutting through the air as they went to meet Takii. They were a blur, a sheer force of nature as the two warriors clashed.

Slowly, Takii’s feet began to give in. It wasn’t enough, of course he couldn’t beat Shinsuke in a game of endurance. He was already running on fumes after his previous fights, even if Shinsuke was an elderly man, every blow he made was precise, wasting no energy on excess movements.

‘Just for a second,’ Takii thought. ‘I have to let go, even if for just a second.’ Shinsuke flashed a slasher grin as Takii’s eyes lit up with an animal ferocity. A searing white fire that betrayed his golden serenity. An animalistic roar came from the man, as an impact to the old master’s face came with an immense force, knocking him clean off his feet and dragging him headfirst onto the ground with a seismic slam. Takii could see, even as he fell, Shinsuke was _smiling_.

Was this…what he wanted? To provoke him into accepting his animal side? Even if Takii had bested all one-hundred of his opponents, he felt a shift inside him. He wouldn’t be the same.

Shinsuke lay unconscious atop the cracked arena. Takii breathed raggedly, feeling as if he had been holding his breath this entire time. Slowly, with what little energy he had…he raised a bloodied fist towards the sky. He had accepted himself, he hadn’t fallen…not completely.

It was his victory.


	6. Epilogue

Shinsuke was taken into custody by the police. His main charge was the abduction of minors, as the various murders he had orchestrated had either gone cold or were impossible to trace. The news shared the story for several days as the process was undergone but could only cover a small extent of what Shinsuke had done all this years. The public would only know him as the leader of a death cult focusing on indoctrinating minors, preying on the vulnerable of society. The internet was aflame with discussions of this, sparking the fears of cultist religious groups thought to have been in the past.

It was momentary, however. Perhaps it was for the best, but I can’t help but think the public deserved to know of Shinsuke as the assassin he was. The evidence simply wasn’t there, however. He’d slipped too deep into the shadows; his clients had made sure to cover any tracks left by him and his disciples.

“Just a little more pressure and you would have snapped, Takii-kun.”

The old man sat seiza style in his jail cell. I felt as though the iron bars wouldn’t be enough to keep a man like him inside. Not that the police knew what Shinsuke was capable of, ever since I beat him he hasn’t shown the slightest bit of resistance to being apprehended.

“You’ve given up though, haven’t you?” I questioned. There was no helping the contempt I felt for this man, behaving so calmly after all he’s done throughout his lifetime.

“For the time being, yes. I pit my strongest disciples against you, along with myself, and still, you managed to survive. It was my first time facing a supernatural opponent, and it has left me rather satisfied knowing the gap which exists between humans and monsters.”

That word irked me. The man was resolute to his twisted ideals.

“It wasn’t a monster that beat you, it was me. You tried to push me and failed, so wipe that calm look off your face.” I snarled.

“—Although I can’t help but wonder how your sister would have fared.” Shinsuke continued without paying heed to my words.

My breath was cut short.

“…What the hell are you talking about?” My teeth clenched instinctively.

“It was in the file on you that I was given. You have an older sister, correct? She was the one originally chosen for the role of Clan head, yet she resigned not long after being given the option and went to study overseas. It seems you were the second choice for the role of leader. I wonder why that was?”

“It’s none of your business what happened. You shouldn’t even know that in the first place.” It was hard to keep my voice down. My head felt hot, there were too many questions—how did he even know that in the first place? Just what was he implying? 

“Was it due to the fact she couldn’t handle it in the first place? Although I’m certain she had far more potential than her little brother. She might have made a fine warrior…one without so many scars as a proof of her failures.”

He was lying. He knew too much. He didn’t know anything. Tear him apart. For his lies.

Shinsuke continued. “It must have been awful knowing you could never match up. Abandoned by your older sibling, losing your mother…and then being trained in your sister’s place. Wondering if she’d have struggled as much as you, and why she decided to leave.”

I slammed the bars of his cell, my grip clenched around them ready to tear apart the only things keeping me apart from the man.

**“What do _you_ know?”**

White-hot rage in every thought. This man was not defeated, those black eyes didn’t let up once. Why? Mocking me, taunting me. He was like _her_ , the sociopath doing as she pleased with others lives, never feeling an ounce of regret. Empathy was wasted on their kind. It’d be so easy to end his life here…

That was exactly what he wanted from me.

Shinsuke’s withered face formed a smile.

“That was my last gamble. Be careful you don’t get riled up so easily, Takii-kun. There will be more people besides me who will want to see you break.”

I retreated from the prison bars. There wasn’t a chance I would admit it: he was the exact type of person that could get under my skin.

“I didn’t come here for mind games. I need a question answered.” I tempered my emotions just enough to remember my goal.

“Go ahead. I don’t promise you’ll hear anything that will satisfy you.” Shinsuke closed his eyes. At last, those eyes stopped boring into me.

“How do you eliminate your aura?”

“Aura, so that’s what you call it.

Why that’s easy. To extinguish one’s presence, you must first extinguish one’s self.”


End file.
